Alabama's LGBT movement emboldens following Orlando tragedy

The Deep South was a hard place for Jayme Parsons to come of age as a young gay woman.

"Some of the memories I have growing up was with guys driving down the road and yelling 'fag' at me and that kind of thing," said Parsons, who lives in Mobile. "People are capable of anything."

The days after Omar Mateen murdered 49 at a gay club in Orlando were difficult and fearful ones for her. But she got her hope back, she said, at a candlelight vigil Wednesday at a Mobile church that has ministered to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community since the mid-1980s.

Parsons, like others in Alabama's LGBT community, is again rolling up her sleeves and preparing for policy battles ahead. "When you are faced with divisiveness, communities do sprout up and always have that strength," she said.

The battles at the Statehouse in Montgomery and in city halls in deep-red Alabama will be numerous. But the Orlando massacre is again pushing gay rights issues to the forefront of national conversations.

In Alabama, there is no shortage of issues for LGBT leaders to dive into: Rewriting the state's sex educational policy to make it more accepting, adopting municipal non-discrimination ordinances covering LGBT people, and pushing for comprehensive anti-harassment and bullying policies at public schools to include LGBT students.

These battles, and more, come about one year after the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage. Alabama was among the few states to push back, with probate judges - following orders from Chief Justice Roy Moore - refusing to issue marriage licenses.

"I do think the struggle for marriage equality was a hard struggle but when it finally came to us, it came quickly aside from the judges not issuing marriage licenses," said the Rev. Sara Sills, a pastor at Cornerstone Metropolitan Community Church in Mobile, the scene of Wednesday's vigil. "We're still fighting this battle in Alabama, and that is OK. There is an equality we have not had before and I'm thrilled to see that young people ... that there are promises that lie ahead in their lifetime."

"It perpetuates hate and homophobia," said Benjamin Newburn, an organizer of the second annual Shoals Pride Fest that took place this past week. "The Alabama Legislature has rarely issued any types of or introduced legislation that would be helpful to this community. But we are constantly seeing legislation that muddies the waters."

Alabama law provides no explicit LGBT protections in the workplace, housing or public accommodations. But the state is one of six to restrict the inclusion of LGBT topics in schools. And Alabama's sex education language identifies homosexuality as a criminal offense and describes the LGBT lifestyle as unacceptable.

"If we cannot get it rewritten, we'll get it challenged in court," said Cari Searcy, the Mobile woman whose adoption lawsuit in 2014 led to U.S. District Judge Ginny Granade's landmark ruling in 2015 that Alabama's ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.

At city halls, HRC and others are eying the prospects of adding LGBT non-discrimination clauses to local ordinances. Said Eva Kendrick, state manager for HRC: "Out of the 435 incorporated municipalities in Alabama, exactly zero have non-discrimination policies on the books."

Newburn said the Jackson vote is a "good first step," but realized that it's "more than what we've gotten in the state of Alabama."

'Ringing off the hook'

But what Alabama's LGBT community is likely to see, especially throughout the rest of the month, is a larger embrace of their movement due to the variety of Pride activities taking place in Florence, Huntsville and Birmingham.

LGBT Pride month is celebrated in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, which were viewed as a tipping point for the gay rights movement in the U.S.

Rocket City Pride in Huntsville, which typically draws around 5,000 people, was expected to see more people attending its activities on Saturday. The increase was related to the outpouring of emotion to the Orlando massacre, according to James Robinson, executive director of the Free2Be resource center in Huntsville.

"We had people saying, 'I don't know if I was coming to it' who are now saying they plan to come," said Robinson. "I think this will be the largest crowd we've ever had."

In Florence, the Shoals Pride event - a week-long celebration - has grown in its second year. Last year's inaugural Shoals Pride drew 800 people, but that number is expected to rise substantially this year due to an increase in the number of activities.

"My phone is ringing off the hook," said Newburn.

Cities throughout the U.S., such as Chicago and New Orleans, are hosting Pride events this weekend that are expected to draw large crowds and heightened security following the Orlando tragedy. The events in Huntsville and Florence also expected to be watched with increased police presence.

Mobile is among the few larger cities in Alabama without a June Pride event. Past Pride activities took place in April, but efforts are under way to move them to October.

But Mobile could become a focal point for Alabama's LGBT community. Searcy, as the new executive director of Equality Alabama, said the group's offices will be relocating to downtown Mobile. And, she said, the focus will be to expand the organization to encompass the entire state.

Among the activities the newly reorganized Equality Alabama will tackle in Mobile is the establishment of a counseling and support program for youths ages 14-18.

Statistics, through the Centers for Disease Control, show that LGBT teens in grades 7-12 are more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide as their heterosexual peers. "As a lesbian growing up in the South, I never had any resources like that," said Searcy. "To be able to provide a resource for teens, for me, is some I feel passionate about."